In Oakland, progress in Bailey murder prosecution

The
murderers of journalists around the globe presume they won't get caught. Unfortunately,
they're often right: Only one case in 10
results in any convictions; just one in 20 results in convictions of those
who ordered the murder. For more than a year it seemed like the August 2007 slaying of U.S. journalist Chauncey Bailey, left, might
not result in the prosecution of all those involved, including the suspected mastermind.
Now, however, due largely to the persistence of Bailey's Bay Area colleagues,
an indictment of suspects, including the alleged mastermind, may come soon.

The
expected indictments are based in part on the ongoing grand jury testimony by
one man who, for the past 20 months has been the only suspect charged with the
murder. His statements to authorities
have been reported by The San Francisco Chronicle as well as a group of journalists known as the Chauncey Bailey Project that was formed in the wake of the murder.
Last week both outlets also reported that Oakland, Calif., police authorities,
including the lead detective on the case and two of his
superiors, have come under administrative investigation.

The
killers of journalists in many less developed nations often work in collusion
with corrupt government officials, CPJ research has long shown. For more than a
year irregularities in the Oakland police investigation into the murder of one
of the Bay area's most respected community journalists rivaled the botched or
compromised murder investigations in nations from Mexico to Mozambique.

Take
Sgt. Derwin Longmire, the homicide detective in the Bailey murder case. The
Oakland Police Department assigned him to lead the investigation, even though
his superiors knew the detective was closely associated with a man then
suspected of multiple crimes, Yusuf Bey IV, and whom a grand jury is now considering
indicting on charges of ordering the journalist's murder.

"It's unusual but not unethical," then-Assistant
Chief Howard Jordan told Anderson Cooper of CBS News' "60 Minutes" in February
2008. In an interview today with CPJ, Jordan said he has reconsidered his
position.

"The allegations as to Sgt. Longmire were not [then]
available," now-Acting Chief Jordan told CPJ. "I felt he was the best officer
for the job," he added. "I have changed my position on that."

Sgt.
Longmire and two of his superior officers, Lt. Ersie Joyner, the former head of
the homicide unit, and Deputy Chief Jeff Loman are each under administrative
investigation, Jordan told CPJ. All three officers face possible disciplinary
action for their handling or supervision of the Bailey murder case.

Grand jury
indictments are expected soon, and they may include Bey. In testimony before
the grand jury this week, gunman Devaughndre Broussard said he committed the
killing at the behest of Bey, his boss at an Oakland establishment called "Your
Black Muslim Bakery," the San Francisco
Chronicle reported.

Then why
did it take more than 20 months to finally prepare a case against him? "We've
said that Mr. Bey is a suspect," Jordan said. "But we didn't have enough
information then to charge Mr. Bey."

Jordan
declined comment on other irregularities in the Oakland police investigation,
many of which were brought to light by journalists reporting for the Chauncey
Bailey Project.

Broussard
was part of the kitchen crew of "Your Black Muslim
Bakery," an Oakland
establishment that Bey, 23, inherited from his late father. The bakery's
ownership and staff have long been linked through felony convictions and press
reports to crimes including extortion, fraud, car theft, sexual abuse of
minors, assault, and murder. Bey was already wanted on various felony charges and was under police surveillance
at the time of Bailey's murder. Bailey was investigating the finances of the bakery
at the time of his death.

This
week, Broussard told the grand jury that Bey ordered him to take sole responsibility
for the Bailey murder, according to Broussard's
attorney, La Rue
Grim, who was quoted in the Chronicle.
Broussard had previously confessed to the crime but said he had acted alone.
Now Broussard is negotiating a plea agreement for his different roles in
murdering the journalist and two other men, the Chauncey Bailey Project reported. The grand jury is
weighing whether to indict Bey along with another young man associated with the
bakery, Antoine Mackey, in Bailey's murder. Bey's attorney, Anne Beles, told
the Chronicle that Bey had nothing to do with
the murder. Mackey has yet to respond to news reports about his alleged
involvement.

Chauncey
Bailey had just been promoted to editor of the Post Newspaper Group, a
consortium of African-American-owned weekly newspapers focusing on the Bay
area's black communities when he was shot dead one morning on the way to his
office. Immediately after, police raided the bakery and arrested Bey and other suspects
on unrelated charges of kidnapping and assault, including the torture of women.
But police charged only Broussard in Bailey's murder.

Sgt.
Longmire then did something that, on the face of it, seems highly irregular.
The homicide detective put the murder suspect, Broussard, in a closed interrogation
room with his
former boss, Bey, then incarcerated on other charges. Sgt. Longmire allowed the
two suspects to speak to each other alone without recording their conversation.

The
police action seems even odder in the face of other evidence uncovered by
Bailey's colleagues. The Chauncey Bailey Project obtained Bey's cell phone records, reporting that they show that Bey
made a series of calls to his bakery associates and others within minutes of
Bailey's murder. The project also reported that other police detectives
investigating crimes prior to Bailey's murder had placed a tracking device on
Bey's car, and that the device placed the car outside Bailey's apartment
building the night before his murder.

For
more than a year, however, Oakland police charged only Broussard with the
crime, suggesting that he murdered Bailey on his own. Only in response to a
series of investigative reports by the Chauncey Bailey Project did
the police finally admit, in November 2008, that they had suspected Bey of
being involved in the murder "within the first 24 hours of our investigation."

The
evidence produced by the project and other Bay-area news outlets included a
video of Bey speaking with other suspects associated with the bakery in a
different interrogation room in a nearby police department. Thevideo was recorded by the San Leandro Police
Department just four days after Bailey's murder. On it, Bey says he put the gun
used to kill Bailey in his closet after the shooting. He mocks the fatal blast
to the journalist's head. He boasts that Longmire was protecting him from being
charged, and that together he and Longmire decided to blame Broussard alone for
the murder. Bey later said in an interview, according to the project, that he
made up stories to mislead police in the interrogation room conversation
captured on video.

Last
November, in response to reporting by the project, both the city of Oakland and the state of California opened separate oversight
investigations into
the Oakland Police Department's murder investigation. Longmire was also removed
from the case and reassigned to patrol duty, according to recent news reports.
The head of the homicide unit, Lt. Ersie Joyner, was also removed from the unit
and put on patrol duty.

Acting
Chief Jordan told CPJ that Lt. Joyner's transfer from the homicide unit was
"part of an overall transfer of lieutenants" within the department and that it had
nothing to do with the Bailey murder investigation.

Longmire
was put on paid leave last week while he is under administrative investigation,
Jordan said. Deputy Chief Loman has been on paid leave since February on
unrelated charges of sexual harassment.

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